


A Guardian Angel

by Dareandwriteit



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Spoilers for The Stolen Century, Spoilers for episode 66
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-21 12:18:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11357355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dareandwriteit/pseuds/Dareandwriteit
Summary: The Devil was an angel who made the wrong decision for the right reasons.Lucretia executes her plan despite her doubts, and follows up on it.





	1. The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic is to fill in a few gaps with my own head canons.
> 
> Stuff like Magnus conveniently thinking he was drunk when he got his facial scar, how Lucretia got the money to do this stuff, what the plan had been for Barry and Davenport before shit went down.
> 
> All this heartbreak and more!!!!
> 
> Please comment with advice and thoughts, I want to vent about the HELL this episode has left me in.

“Who are you?”

“I can do this Magnus, please. Please just lie down, I don’t want you to hurt yourself. I love you, Magnus, I love all of you.”

“No… no…”

Magnus fell in the way that towering pillars did, his lower half losing foundation as he slipped to his knees. His shoulders swayed, and his head lolled loosely. His eyes were on her the whole time. Deep brown, and honest, and so _so_ confused.

She tried to catch him. She moved without thinking, without stopping her endless flood of words. An arm wrapped around his chest, a hand buried in his his side burns. His weight was too much, of course it was, but Lucretia could not just let him fall. They fell together, in a clumsily slowed descent. Magnus hit his head on the table as he fell, and the blunt sound felt like a roll of thunder in the tiny room. Lucretia lay on the ground beside him, still talking and talking, doing what she always did. She buried it in words, because if she could explain _why_ she did it, it might not feel like such a mistake.

Fisher, dropped the scrapped cover of the journal. Fisher span, and hummed a loud melody which Lucretia felt was distressed more than she heard it. Magnus stirred slightly at the sound, and Fisher hit against the side of his tank.

Lucretia sat up, her head in her hands.

“It’s alright Fisher. He’ll be happier like this. It’s alright.” Lucretia said quietly to the tank. “They’ll all be better for this.”

Fisher hummed quietly, seeming to consider this. The ship was filled with a melancholy tune, echoing through the silent halls with perfect clarity. Lucretia forced herself to look back at Magnus, and felt a sudden drop in her stomach at the sight of him.

He had a cut, a deep one running over one eye. There was blood pouring from it, drenching his face. She glanced at her desk, one which Magnus himself had made, and saw the sharp edge she had so often used to sharpen pencils. Magnus had offered to sand it down before, not realising quite how sharp the thing was when he’d first made. Lucretia realised with a sickening tightness in her throat that he would _never_ get around to it.

Her first instinct was to get Merle, the ship’s resident healer. But her mind caught up with her, her plan smothered her feelings. He would be passed out too. They were standing in a ship they couldn’t comprehend, surrounded by people they couldn’t remember. Fisher usually filled the gaps of memories stolen, but there was a limit. For their own sake, their minds would just shut down.

Until she got them to their new homes.

The journal had been ready for weeks, in all honesty. There was nothing more she could edit. She had almost memorised entire pages which she viewed and reviewed for days at a time. But a necessary step, or perhaps just one preferable to the last one, was finding them new lives.

Merle was easy. Agonisingly so, in fact. He had family here, of a kind. There was even a beach colony of dwarves looking for a clerical leader. A congregation, an ever changing landscape. It was perfect. Lucretia almost felt bad that it did not take her longer to find him a place. He deserved more time, more effort from her, at the very least. But she couldn’t couldn’t bare to wait any longer. She couldn’t make them suffer this guilt for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Magnus was even easier. Despite having no family, there was a guild of woodworkers that would welcome him with open arms. Her first thought had been to place him in a malicia somewhere, contacting a man by the name of Captain Captain Bane who had considered accepting him. But Magnus had been fighting for 100 years already. Even if he was good at it, even if it was his calling, he deserved to settle down. And this lack of correspondence was terrifying enough without the constant risk of death. Woodworking was a far better fit for him.

Even Barry was somewhat simple. The Miller Labs would appreciate his intellect, and be willing to overlook his past. Barry could lose himself in work, and he so often did before. He would work on some planetside base, avoiding the moon base that Lucretia frequented. It was be easy to keep tabs on him, maybe even have him help her find the relics, albeit as indirectly as possible. So long as he didn’t die, he would find some happiness. Not the same happiness, but some.

But Taako? Taako was the opposite story. Without Lup, it was like finding a stranger in a home. Lucretia could see how her absence (oh gods, she wished it was merely an absence) had not yet truly sunk in for him, constantly questing for any sign of her. Taako was in denial about it in some ways. Lucretia had looked in several places, she had even found some relatives of Taako’s that he could place him with her. It wasn’t as many cousins as Merle had, but it was an uncle, a grandfather. Figures that had never been mentioned by Taako before because why would he need them? He had _Lup_.

Lucretia bought a stagecoach for him, complete with a fully equipped kitchen and some decent savings. The money was scrimped and saved from various anonymous texts and concepts she had sold. They were popular, crowd pleasing works of meaningless fluff. Most of the money had come from selling some half developed kid detective series called Caleb Cleveland to an up and coming writer by the name of G. M. Elroy. In an odd way, it was because of him that any of this could happen.

Some part of Lucretia hoped that she would find Lup soon, and she could maybe push her into Taako’s path. Have them team up for the show somehow. Though, she had thought with a smile, the idea of the two of them sharing the spotlight was ridiculous. Lup held the minute of difference in age over Taako’s head, god knows what they would find to compete over without it.

Lucretia healed Magnus’ cut the best she could. That year all alone had given her no choice but to learn. But her mind couldn’t focus, and all she could think was how much she wished she could ask Merle to come and help her. Magnus’ eye healed, but it left a scar. Having half healed, it was never going to entirely vanish. Magnus always said how he wished he could keep his scars. This wasn’t much of a consolation to Lucretia.

Lucretia left Magnus there, and made her way through the ship. Her steps echoed through the halls. She was afraid of what she would see, what they could say to her. They wouldn’t. But the fear was crushing. She knew they had so many reasons to hate her, and the fact couldn’t remember that didn’t matter.

She found Merle and Davenport, collapsed over the table with cards scattered around them. Merle was dead asleep, his breathing steady and calm. Davenport seemed more panicked, muttering his name over and over again in his sleep. Lucretia gently pulled him out of his chair and lay him on the floor. She was afraid of him falling out of his chair and getting hurt. She had not planned a new life for him outside the vaguest ideas: the Rockport Limited might have wanted his technical skills, he would have been an excellent engineer. But she knew that in reality, this plan would leave him with very little. She would protect him. It’s the very least she could do.

She continued outside, and the sight made her blood freeze. Taako was there, collapsed on the floor with his red robe splayed around him. His wand was in his hand, and there was a thin trail of smoke coming from it. Barry wasn’t there. Lucretia ran to the railing and stared over it in terror. Far below, far, far, _far_ below, she could just about make out a single spot of red.

Oh, Barry. 

Lucretia stared over the railing for what felt like years. The only sound was the gentle, cold breeze through the world. The ship was so quiet. It was supposed to be home. But it felt dead.

Lucretia turned her back to the railings. She took a deep breath, and wiped at her face. Then she walked over to Taako, and took the wand from his hand. He would have almost no memory of the incredible power available to him, and letting him walk out into the world with an advanced wand was irresponsible. He had cooking now anyway. He’d have no reason to seek out magic.

Then Lucretia began the necessary task of removing the IPRE robes from everyone. Her arms were full of red fabric, and it was overwhelming how the smell of her friends was piled in front of her. Taako’s robe (and jacket, he insisted on wearing both) smelt of spices and smoke. Davenport’s jacket smelt of engine oil and wine. Merle’s jacket smelt of moss and old books. Magnus’ jacket smelt of wet dogs and pine.

She threw the clothes into a closet in the Starblaster and slammed the door behind her. She pressed her back against the door, and took a deep breath. And another. And another. She slid down the door and sat there for a while, forcing herself to keep breathing.

It was all she could bear to do.


	2. The Dropoff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of three new lives.

Lucretia walked Merle down first. They took a windswept path along the cliffs, approaching the settlement as the sun began to set. Merle stumbled along the path, misstepping whenever he looked at her too closely. Lucretia lead their way, resisting the urge to hold his hand or be too affectionate.

“Where’s this?” Merle grumbled, shaking some sand out of his shoes.

“It’s your family’s dwarven village on the coast.” Lucretia said, with practiced neutrality.

“Huh.” Merle said. “Bit weird.”

Lucretia stifled a laugh, or maybe a sob. “I thought so too. You should fit in very well.”

Merle seemed to think for a moment. “How’d I get here?”

“You were out preaching for a few years. But… you wanted to settle back down. It’s about time.” 

Merle seemed to take this with some encouragement. “You’re damn right. ‘Bout time I did something for _me_ instead of some stuck up god.”

“Pan.” Lucretia said this without thinking.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever.” Merle waved away her words. “There any hot ladies in this settlement?”

Lucretia found herself taken aback by this, and Merle passed her as he walked. He stopped for a moment in front of her, as though waiting for something. Then he shook his head, took off his shoes, and walked towards the cottages.

Lucretia watched him walk until he vanished inside a house- his home now- and the lights inside began to glow. Then she turned and walked back to the Starblaster in silence. The pair of footprints they had made, one human pair and one dwarven pair, were quickly being swept away by the tide.

* * *

Taako took the stagecoach immediately. At the sight of it he rushed past Lucretia and straight into the driver’s seat. 

“I call shotgun!” He yelled from the seat, as he spurred the horses and rushed past her. He quite clearly had no intention of letting her get on the thing with him.

“Wait! You don’t know where you’re going!” She yelled, the wind whipped up by the carriage making her robe tangle beneath her feet and cause her stumble. She fell flat on her face and watched the stage coach careen down the dirt path and crash through the forest.

“Away from here homie!” Taako’s voice echoed back through the trees, and there was a series of loud crunches and crashes. 

Lucretia sat beside the road for a moment, listening out for the distance sounds of the coach’s terrible driving. It was heading… North-East, if she was to believe the way the birds were suddenly taking to the skies. The nearest town in that direction was a small mining town, and she was sure if she hurried ahead a trustworthy assistant could be paid enough to help him out with minimal trouble.

It was the kind of flat rejection she had expected from all of them. It wasn’t until she was back on the ship that she remembered it was because Taako couldn’t remember her. That he viewed her as he viewed most people outside of the ship: nothing more than a handful of dust, whose existence was so temporary against his own he couldn’t waste time caring about her.

The show would take some organising that Taako, without Barry or Lup, was incapable of. She began to plan her work as a silent investor to stop herself from rushing after him.

* * *

Magnus seemed very nervous on his walk up to Ravens Roost, which was unlike him. He fidgeted with his fingers as they walked, frequently glancing up at Lucretia. The road up to the town was steep, and it took them a while to get within the limits. A few times his breath caught, as though he was about to speak and then decided not to. The gate, on old portcullis pulled high into a brick archway, had a slow flow of people going in and out. They paid no attention to Magnus or Lucretia.

“Your mentor is in a place called the Craftsman’s Corridor. It should be straight ahead.” Lucretia said, pointing through the gate. Magnus nodded vaguely. His eyes were fixed on the town ahead of them. He did not move.

“What’s wrong?” Lucretia asked. “Do you not want to go?”

“I… uh…” Magnus ran a distracted finger through his sideburns, struggling to keep his thoughts in order. He looked back at Lucretia, and had a slight start.

“Hail and well met!” he said, for third time that day.

“Hello.” Lucretia said, somewhat sadly.

“Can I… Do you need help?” Magnus asked, earnestly.

Lucretia found herself struggling to say no.

“I think I can help you? If you need me to? That’s something I can do.” Magnus said, with an earnest tone that made Lucretia feel sick.

“I don’t need any help, thank you. The Craftsman’s Corridor needs you right now.”

“Are you sure? I could escort you somewhere, or help you get a ride…” Magnus said, looking around the road with some urgency. Lucretia smiled, despite herself. He didn’t see it. She had cast invisibility before he turned back. He looked at the spot where she had just been - where she still was - with a brief moment of panic and worry.

Then a woman walking past caught his attention, and he rushed over to her. She was a human, carrying a heavy pack of timber over her back with the barest amount of difficulty. Magnus’ concern was redirected from Lucretia, and he intercepted the woman with the timber. He said something to her that Lucretia couldn’t hear, but the woman laughed in response.

She did not give over her timber. She walked beside him, with a wry smile that reminded Lucretia of Magnus. Lucretia caught a sliver of conversation as they walked through the gates.

“Nice to mag you, I’m Meetnus. W-wait, no, I mean…”

“It’s nice to mag you too.” The woman responded, without skipping a beat. “My name’s Julia.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to set up a few little character things that are on my mind: Merle's early association with a different god/general shitty work at being a cleric. 
> 
> Taako being very much solo and ending up with someone as shitty as Sazed despite Lucretia watching over him. 
> 
> Magnus doesn't have much new. He's always been a bit of a bully with a heart of gold. He needs a little bit of bullying back.


End file.
